Soft-Boiled Eggs and Crock Pot Bread for Breakfast

This was a springtime breakfast with Zach.  It dirties up a lot of dishes to have a Turkish-style breakfast, but it is definitely our favorite.  Part of why we like them is because they are very relaxed, since we can only do Turkish breakfast when we both have the morning off.

We had cucumbers from our garden, tomatoes from the store, soft-boiled eggs, what appears to be hummus (maybe?), apple butter and strawberry jam, and some green-tomato pickles that seem to have plenty of turmeric in them.  And, of course, Turkish tea.  Zach was also making some "espresso" in our aeropress.

These eggs turned out pretty well.  The bread we ate was baked in a crock pot, something I'd wanted to try for a while.  The results were underwhelming.  I used this method http://busymomsmenuplan.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-make-homemade-bread-in-crock-pot.html and whole wheat dough.  

I remember looking at many different recipes to decide what to do, so I may have used a combination of methods.  The idea is pretty simple: put dough in crock pot, cover, bake.  It took quite a bit longer than the recipe said, and it was NEVER going to get a nice crisp crust like the pictures led me to believe.  It still didn't look browned AT ALL at 3 hours, but I took it out anyway.  The result was a heavy (whole wheat) bread that was fine, but nothing exciting.  I will probably try again.

Anyway, I'm sure it was a lovely breakfast, and that we drank way too much Turkish tea, and I probably had a slight headache later from all the sugar.

Another Mystery Photo

I found this picture on my phone.  It looks exciting, and I am trying hard to remember the occasion.

Clues:

It was probably not too long after we started moving stuff into our house, because the china cabinet isn't in the background.

I am remembering the food: lentil stew (North African spices), pickled onion salad, pita.  And olives. 

Oh, those were the olives that Lydia gave me for Christmas, so it must have been late December/early January, because olives never last too long in our house.

That might be yogurt in the foreground, and it is probably homemade yogurt, which means that Megan (my 2012 intern) had arrived, so it must be early January.

I'm guessing the strawberries are from an Aldi dumpster.

Mmm, Turkish tea.  This must be lunch, since us old folks don't drink caffeine in the evening very often.



Well, I am thinking the occasion was simply that we were both home and it was lunch time.  Not very exciting, but I do remember that the lentils were REALLY good with those onions....

Turkish Breakfast

Nothing is better than Turkish breakfast on a warm summer morning.  Remember, these are old pictures from my phone.

 

Menu:

Bread (Italian bread from Kroger is the closest to Turkish bread that I've found)
Feta Cheese
Olives
Sliced Tomatoes
Sliced Cucumbers
Yogurt
Sliced Avocados (not a normal part of Turkish breakfast)
Jam
Turkish Tea

New Year's Day Brunch with the Persons

The Persons stopped by our house for a night and a morning and rang in the new year with us.  The next morning, we made brunch.

 

 

 

Featuring the coconut syrup that my sister-in-law (Miranda) got me for Christmas

 

 

Menu:

 

French Toast

Pineapple-Ginger Syrup (we had nothing fresh in the house with which to make a fruit topping, so I used canned pineapple and FINALLY used my new microplane to grate in some ginger.  That thing was well worth the wait!!)

Coconut Syrup (really good mixed with the pineapple)

Bourbon-Vanilla Syrup (the basic homemade syrup with bourbon and vanilla in it instead of maple)

Ahmad Cardamom Black Tea

Some Random Fruit Tea


Here is a picture of Miranda in the Renaissance Festival costume that we sewed/made for her at the last minute in the fall sometime:

 

 

Note to self: dying synthetics with coffee is not the greatest idea you have ever had.